Valebrook Civic Center – Lab Wing, 12:03 a.m.
The blood on the walls was still warm. Juliana stood in the broken doorway of the containment room, breathing hard, the word "Queen vs Queen" painted across the glass in human red.
Echo scanned the bodies in silence. Most were mutilated. Two were missing their faces. A Syndicate soldier had his arms twisted backward into the shape of wings.
Juliana clenched her fists.
"This wasn't rage," she whispered. "It was art."
"She's sending you a message," Echo said.
"She's not just active. She's awake."
They moved deeper into the corridor, where flickering lights painted the walls in strobes. Behind them, Nael whispered through comms.
"I hacked into the security mainframe. Last motion ping shows Subject 10 heading to Sublevel C. Same wing as the cryo-vaults."
"Why would she go there?" Echo asked.
Juliana's voice was ice.
"Because that's where they kept me."
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12:10 a.m. – Sublevel C
Juliana moved fast, blade in hand, mind faster. The corridor here was quiet, untouched by chaos. The deeper she went, the more familiar it felt — the smell of bleach and stone, the hum of distant generators.
Memories bled in. A cold room. A voice in her ear.
"Do not cry. Do not speak. You are what we built."
The scream of another girl in the next chamber. Herself, maybe. Hard to tell. She stopped at the vault door. It was already open.
Inside, the temperature dropped instantly. She stepped into the freezing room lined with cryo-pods. And in the center stood Subject 10.
She turned slowly. She looked… just like Juliana.
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Identical. Down to the scar under her lip. The tattoo on her shoulder. The fire in her eyes.
But she was wrong in one way — she was smiling.
"I was wondering when you'd come," Subject 10 said. Her voice was Juliana's voice — but softer. Almost sweet.
"Who the hell are you?" Juliana demanded, gun raised.
"I'm what you could've been," the girl said. "Before they gave you a name."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one that matters."
Subject 10 stepped closer. Hands raised. Unarmed.
"I remember you, you know. I remember watching the footage. The way you moved. The way they talked about you."
"You're a clone," Juliana growled.
"I'm your evolution."
"You're a mistake."
The girl didn't flinch. "Then why do I know everything you know? Why can I feel what you feel before you even say it? You think the experiments ended with your activation? No, Juliana. You were the blueprint. I'm the finished product."
______
Juliana fired. A warning shot. The bullet grazed Subject 10's cheek — not enough to kill. Just enough to say I'm done talking.
The girl smiled wider. "You still hesitate. They were right. You're still human."
Juliana stepped forward, eyes sharp. "And you're still just a puppet."
They stood inches apart now. The mirrored image of each other. Then Subject 10 whispered:
"Ask yourself one question, Juliana… when your mother handed you over… did she think she was saving you?"
"She tried."
"She succeeded. In building me." Juliana struck first.
______
12:12 a.m. – Cryo-Vault Fight
The room exploded in motion. Juliana lunged. Subject 10 met her with a knife — matching move for move.
Steel clanged. Blood spattered. Juliana took a slice across the forearm, but her blade drove into 10's shoulder — not deep enough to end it.
Subject 10 slammed her into a cryo-pod, cracking the glass. Juliana headbutted her. Then kneed her in the ribs. Then tackled her across the floor into a steel cabinet.
They both rose, panting. Bleeding.
"You fight like me," Juliana hissed.
"I am you," Subject 10 snarled.
They clashed again.
This time, Juliana disarmed her — but 10 grabbed a cryo pipe and swung it like a war hammer, knocking Juliana across the room. She hit the floor hard. Wind gone.
Subject 10 walked slowly toward her, blood dripping from her chin.
"You can't win this," she whispered. "I'm faster. Stronger. Cleaner."
"You're alone," Juliana gasped. "And that makes you weak."
_____
12:16 a.m. – Turning Point
Subject 10 raised the pipe. And then froze.
Because behind her, the security monitor crackled — and Juliana's mother appeared on screen. A second pre-recorded message.
"Subject 10," Rose said, voice calm. "If you're seeing this… then you're scared. That's good. Fear means you still have a soul."
Subject 10 turned slowly, eyes wide.
"I raised Juliana to be stronger than her demons. But I created you… to see if the darkness could learn to love itself."
Juliana rose from the floor, blade in hand again.
"She made you," she said. "But she never stopped loving me."
Subject 10 turned back. Her face cracked. Just a little.
"Then kill me."
"No," Juliana said. "You'll do that yourself."
And she stabbed the pipe behind Subject 10, hitting a main coolant line. The explosion rocked the room. Juliana dove behind a cryo tank.
Subject 10 screamed as the frost poured over her — cryo-fluid searing her skin, freezing muscle, locking her mid-step. When the smoke cleared…
She was frozen in place. Alive. Eyes wide. Lips parted. Trapped.
_______
12:21 a.m. – Aftermath
Juliana stared at the frozen figure that looked just like her.
Echo entered the room a moment later, gun raised.
"Holy hell."
"She's not dead," Juliana said.
"Why not finish her?"
Juliana exhaled, dragging her bloody knuckles across her thigh.
"Because that's what they would've done."
"And you're not them?"
Juliana looked at her
mirror-self. Then at the screen still blinking Rose Da Vinci's message.
"Not yet."